Dunedin airport boss wants answers from police

Dunedin Airport's chief executive is demanding answers from police after a security operation resulted in the terminal being evacuated on Wednesday.

An Air New Zealand plane had just left Wellington for the South Island city when police were alerted to a threat to it by a member of the public.

John McCall says Air New Zealand and airport security deemed the threat to be non-specific and allowed the flight to continue.

However, Mr McCall says police in Dunedin upgraded it to a specific threat and, because the plane was already outside the terminal at that point, regulations stipulated the building had to be evacuated.

Mr McCall believes police in Dunedin should not have become involved. He says flights were delayed, business lost and passengers left shaken.

He hopes a meeting on Monday between airport security, airlines, the airport and police will establish what happened.